Berlin: Swiss drug maker Novartis AG reported a jump in fourth-quarter net profit to $2.08 billion (Dh7.6 billion) on Wednesday, citing the lack of a $900-million one-time charge it took in the same period the previous year. Net profit during the final quarter of last year rose 72 per cent from the $1.21 billion net profit posted in the final three months of 2011, when the Basel-based company took a hit from ending its clinical study into wider uses of the hypertension drug Tekturna. Chief Executive Joseph Jimenez said Novartis has a strong range of new products coming out of its research and development pipeline — including a new infant vaccine for meningitis — and predicted net sales to grow after 2013.